Grew up in the ’90s playing the Super Nintendo. It was a big part of my childhood, and one of the best consoles made. Remember getting up very early just so that I could play Super Mario World before heading off to school.

It’s a great list, but it got me wondering. I wonder if James has ever played Earthbound. Knowing the types of games that he likes, it would be hard to imagine him not loving EB. It’s all about charm and playing on your memories of being a child. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen him mention the game.

Great list, i don’t have anything to say, because i had Genesis, not SNES, but I really glad that you didn’t miss FF 3 (or 6, or whatever) and Chrono Trigger, i played them by the DARK FORCES of emulation and they’re awesome.

I signed up to say how sad I am with the lack of love for Secret of Mana, one of the greatest games ever made on any platform. I’d also argue that Donkey Kong Country 3 is better than the original, it was so damn satisfying to play, on par with Super Mario World.

My list is very similar to James (in no particular order), except I’d bump off Mario World and TMNT in favor of FF 2 (4), and Secret of Mana. Mario World would be in my top 20, but I just didn’t go nuts over it like everyone else did.

I didn’t play that many SNES games as a kid but my top 5 would have to be
1. Donkey Kong Country 2
2. Super Mario RPG
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Mario All Stars with Super Mario World(yeah I know that’s kinda cheating)
5. A Link to the Past (it’s this low because I was stupid as a kid and never got up to the Dark World, I’m not joking I got stuck on Death Mountain)
Now that I think about it I think I only played about 15 SNES games as a kid.

Note: SOme games did not make my top 10, as i did not have them as a kid. This is a list of what were my favorites, that i had as a kid.
These games include:
FF3 (6)
Chrono Trigger
Seiken Denetsu 3 ( secret of mana 2, only in Japan)

I’ve played the SNES a long time ago and I can recall four games that I played a lot: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Edition and The Great Circus Mystery staring Mickey and Minnie, which was actually better than it sounds.

This is a hard list for me, I loved super nintendo, I am slowly rebuilding my library on Wii Virtual Console out of what’s available… I wish I still had my SNES.

1 Secret of Mana

2 Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3 Final Fantasy III

4 Super Mario Kart. I used to play it my dad a lot lol, so many memories

5 Super Metroid

6 Chrono Trigger Discovered late sadly, missed out on it when it was new.

7 Super Mario World

8 Illusion of Gaia

9 Yoshi’s Island

10 Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars

Putting them in order is hard let alone choosing only 10. Putting secret of mana for me at the top is kind of wierd I guess it was not as flawless in design as chrono trigger or link to the past, but it’s charm left an impression that influenced me my whole life as an artist.

Any top 10 without final fantasy 3, super metroid, or chrono trigger in it is basically just invalid and wrong. These are easily some of the best games ever made even to this day. I think super ghouls and ghosts is also a top game and there are lots of others I always liked lost vikings it had great music and humor.

Awesome list, although my list would contain a lot more RPGs. Lufia 2 and Final Fantasy 4 at least, and also Seiken densetsu 3 (secret of mana 2, only fan translation available I think..?). Star Fox would be nowhere, and Mega Man X (all of them) would make an appearance.

Still, good choices by James. Link to the Past a very predictable number 1, but well deserved. I could’ve guessed most of the games on this list just by having watched all your videos, and that’s just good.

As a youngin’, I’ve never played a single SNES game in my life, so I can’t make a list 🙁

But I personally would love to hear your thoughts on FF3 (FF6) since it’s a common fan favorite among the hard core FF fans, and the protagonist and antagonist are fairly interesting characters (There are games with a good main character (ex. Yuri from Tales of Vesperia, and there are games with a good villain (ex. Bioshock), but there’s rarely a game that has both a good main character AND a good villain. FF3 appears to meet those expectations in the fans’ eyes).

Do you think maybe you could make a video where you go into detail on why you like certain games on your list? (Like, maybe the ones that aren’t that predictable, or are interesting choices like FF3 or Chrono Trigger)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Super Metroid are not only the 2 best games on the SNES, but I believe them to be 2 of the best video games ever made. They are both flawless games in my opinion. That is why the SNES is my favorite system, as many of the games on it are my favorite games of all time.

@Zihq:
I thought I was the only one that knew Seiken Densetsu 3 existed. It’s probably got my #1, and Star Ocean, another awesome rpg that never made it out of Japan, would be #2. Then we have most of the other games already mentioned.

I know, it’s RPG-heavy. Can’t be helped. Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 2 are two of the most well-designed games ever made. It takes that level of quality to put them in the mix with the SNESs ridiculously good RPG library. Zelda doesn’t quite make my top ten, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who ranks it higher than I do. The game doesn’t have any real flaws. It’s just very difficult to limit this to ten.

good list, i agree with lots of it, including the order. the only things i disagree with-
it kind of blows my mind that super mario kart isn’t on there. probably the best 2 player game on the system, even over street fighter 2 (which should also be on the list at least before f-zero), because mario kart had a more basic appeal and lots of people just weren’t good at or didn’t like fighting games. so if you had friends like that, you could probably at least get them to play mario kart.
also, i think i would put star fox higher up myself, because for me, it actually gave me more challenge than ANY of those games on that list. more white knuckle adrenaline and feeling of accomplishment than any of the others BY FAR. if you actually manage to play all through that game without the black hole/warp, on the 3rd, most difficult path, and beat it…
you are basically a JEDI.
i did it at least once, if not a few times, but couldn’t ever do it consistently and i played the crap out of that game. but when you get to andross on that path, and beat him the first time, then he turns into the demon, and you busted ass to get that far and that happens and you already beat the game before and didn’t see him do that, and he does it and you’re like ‘OH SHIT’.
that was so… just unspeakably incredible and badass. you seriously had to be in THE ZONE to even get to experience that.

yeah but i agree with the guy who commented before my last one, f-zero really kind of sucks. no 2 player battle mode, and single player just never seemed fun to me. it seriously really literally boggles my mind how someone could put f-zero above mario kart. the mario kart series only went downhill from that first entry, but the snes mario kart was probably one of the best 2player games ever. the fun you could have screwing over your buddy in that game was just tops, and there was nothing like an epic comeback in battle mode when you lose 2 ballons without taking one of theirs, then come back to get all 3 and win. fzero had none of that.

… These are the games I loved and still play. I loved Super Mario world back in the days, but I haven’t felt like playing the game since them.. for some reason, and that’s why I can’t put it on my list. Peace!

James James James you got it wrong! This is the Ultimate list:
1. Chrono Trigger (best game EVER, period)
2. Final Fantasy III
3. Zelda Link to the Past
4. Super Mario World
5. Wild Guns
6. Star Fox
7. Super Metroid
8. Megaman X2
9. Super Punch Out
10. Sunset Riders
11. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
I agree with whoever said F-Zero ‘kinda sucks’. I just never understood why everyone liked it so much although it was cool sorta for the time.

A top ten is very difficult for me. I’m sure there are games out there that I never got a chance to play, it was quite rare I got to buy new games but I’ll list what I think is a good list for my favorite SNES games.

There are dozens of others that I held in high regard, but these are mostly my favorites.

As a testament to how much I absolutely love FInal Fantasy II, I have played it every single year for the past 20 years. Each year, I must play it all the way through. I have been faithful to this for two decades, and each time I enjoy it more and more.

It’s interesting to note how it is rare to have a game on someone’s top ten list that doesn’t have an outstanding musical score. I think it’s both because a game where more effort was put into the music will, likely, also have more effort put into the game in general, but also because we form positive memories of the game they are attached to, and later drawn draw greater nostalgia from them.

I agree with veritas fighter, the secret of mana game was wonderful and entertaining. It was a combination of a Zelda game and an RPG, include multiplayer, and you’ve got a great game on hand. Possibly one of my all time favorite games. The sequels never came close. They did look pretty, but played horribly.

What IS it about the Super Nintendo? I don’t think I’m alone in saying nostalgia has NOTHING to do with my love for this console. Its not something from my childhood that I’ve rediscovered. Since I got one, aged 10 (back in 1994) it has always been hooked up in my home and played regularly. Even today. Especially today!